


Devil in Disguise

by Mychelle_Wilmot



Category: Deep Dish Nine - Fandom, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Cat, DD9, DS9, Deep Dish Nine, Fluff, Gen, Pizza AU, Silly, Spot hates everyone, restaurant AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-25
Updated: 2013-09-25
Packaged: 2017-12-27 13:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/979708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mychelle_Wilmot/pseuds/Mychelle_Wilmot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's getting hard and harder to have someone to look after Spot everytime Data needs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Devil in Disguise

**Author's Note:**

> Deep Dish Nine is beautiful AU created in tumblr where everyone in Deep Space Nine works in a pizza place and everyone lives. For more informations, see the [Deep Dish Nine](http://deep-dish-nine.tumblr.com/) tumblr.
> 
> In my headcanon and other people's too, the Enterprise crew runs a very nice French Restaurant. This is just some information for you; almost everything is only used in background here.
> 
> Basically, everyone lives, everyone is human, and this is a story about Spot. Yup, I wrote a story about Data's cat in an Alternate Universe.
> 
> My special thanks for [themanfromnantucket](http://themanfromnantucket.tumblr.com/), who was a sweetheart and did the beta work in this story, because English is not my native language and it was really needed - thank you so much, again!

 

 ***

"Spot, your food is over here!” – Geordi called for what seemed like the fiftieth time, and feeling more than a little bit silly by now. He was used to living alone, and it seemed strange to walk through his apartment, shouting for a cat.

 A cat that had, apparently, disappeared.

Sighing, Geordi tried to once again call the feline, in the way that Data taught him; Spot still was nowhere to be seen.

It was Geordi’s day off at the restaurant, and, after Data’s request, he agreed to look after Spot for the night. Geordi honestly hadn’t thought it was going to be so hard. He’d looked after Ariana’s kids once or twice, and it would be much easier to look after a cat, right?

Wrong, it seems.

Giving up on finding the cat only by calling her name, he started to look around his house: he checked under the table, the chair and the bed, to no avail.

Geordi even looked in his wardrobe, among his uniforms and shoes, but he still didn’t find her.

He began to worry; what if Spot had somehow escaped from his apartment? He knew how much Data was attached to his cat, and he didn’t want to be blamed if Spot disappeared under his care.

Walking into his living room, Geordi took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and put them on again. He was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be able to see his own hands if he didn’t have his special glasses, but sometimes they hurt his eyes and everything seemed blurred.

Looking around, he stopped in front of his couch and crouched. It had an opening at the bottom, and if he was a cat, it would be a place that he would love to hide.

Putting his head closer to the floor, he used his cell phone light to illuminate the place. He was met by a bright and angry pair of eyes, and a huge sensation of relief in knowing that he wouldn’t have to face his friend’s disappointment.

“Spot, finally! Come here now and…” – Geordi reached with his hand towards Spot, but regretted the action immediately. Spot suddenly became enraged and, in a movement that Geordi didn’t see coming, scratched his arm. Geordi retracted his arm, wincing in pain as Spot ran into Geordi’s bedroom, disappearing once more.

Wincing again, Geordi observed his wounded arm with its rivulets of blood. _“Data,”_ he thought to himself, _“the next time your brother gets arrested and you want to visit him, I swear you’ll have my emotional support, but you’re going to find someone else to babysit your cat.”_

***

 “Spot! Spot, come here, please, don’t run away!”

Will was walking down the street nearby Picard’s Restaurant. He had two hours before his shift began and didn’t have anything to do at home, so he was thinking about spending some time at Janeway’s Coffee or going to Deanna’s apartment when he heard the shouting.

Will frowned, recognizing Deanna’s voice, and then recognizing Deanna as she came running and bumped into him.

“Whoa! Deanna, what are you doing?”

Deanna blinked, confused; she was wearing the restaurant’s uniform, but her hair was a mess, as if she had been running for some time now. When she realized it was Will, she sighed.

“I’m running after Spot; what do you think I’m doing?”

Deanna started to pace around, as if she expected Spot to reveal himself to be hiding behind a rock.

 “Why were you with Data’s cat?” – Will asked, very carefully, as he could see how frustrated Deanna was.

“Why do you think? Data needed someone to take care of Spot, and since Geordi vehemently refused, guess who he asked?” – Deanna made an angry gesture towards herself – “I could have said no, of course, but he said he was going to cancel his date. You know that Data never goes out, and I didn’t have the heart to say no.”

She began to walk quickly now, and Will saw her pick up a small cage, obviously intended for transporting cats. He just followed Deanna, judging that it was for the best to not annoy her even more.

“And everything had been going just fine – I mean, she hid in my apartment, she scratched me and refused to eat, but I was expecting that. What I wasn’t expecting was that she would somehow manage to break free and run into the middle of the street, one block away from the restaurant, where I was supposed to give her back to Data!”

Will looked at Deanna, fuming with rage, checking everywhere and calling Spot’s name. While he understood the seriousness of the situation, it had caused a pretty ridiculous scene; he wasn’t able to control himself and he had to chuckle.

Apparently, Deanna didn’t think that it was funny at all. She turned to him, her dark eyes narrowed; Will swallowed nervously.

“If you don’t have anything better to do, Mister Riker, I suggest that you help me to find Spot, unless you want to take a double shift today and work in my place while I spend the night looking for her.”

Will thought about making a joke to lighten the mood, but Deanna clearly wasn’t having any of it, and he thought he would be better off if he just obeyed his girlfriend.

“Yes, ma’am” – Will said in a small voice. Deanna replied with a murmured “Good” and started to look into the street again, calling “Spot!”

After searching for half an hour, Will was ready to give up and just tell Deanna that they would have to give the bad news to Data, but just then he saw a yellow fur behind a bush – it was Spot.

Without stopping to tell Deanna, Will approached as quietly as he could and, with one sudden movement, he reached out for Spot.

What ensued was a cacophony of yowls and human cries of pain. Deanna, hearing the ruckus, ran towards the direction of the noise:

“Will? Did you find Spot?”

He didn’t need to answer; when she came closer she saw Spot, struggling in Will’s arms, and Will, covered in red marks.

She quickly put Spot into the crate, locking her safely, and finally sighed in relief.

“I thought we were never going to find her again!”

“I thought so, too.” - Will said, examining his sore arm. Deanna smiled and they resumed the walk that had been interrupted almost an hour ago. He would be glad if he never saw Spot again outside Data’s care.

***

“Do not leave the door open.”

Jadzia heard Worf’s voice a second before she had closed the Defiant’s back door. She looked in his direction, ready with a sarcastic reply, when she saw the scene laid out before her.

Worf was sitting in the driver’s seat, glaring at something on the passenger’s seat; looking down, Jadzia saw a beautiful cat with yellow fur (and she could swear that the cat was glaring back).

Smiling, she reached out, ready to run a hand through the soft fur when the cat turned to her and hissed, looking positively murderous. Jadzia quickly recoiled.

“This cat’s yours?” – Jadzia asked, frowning. Worf never seemed like a cat person to her - or a dog person, or any kind of pet person, for that matter.

 “Of course not!” – Worf growled, still glaring at the cat – “This is Spot, Data’s cat.”

It took a minute for Jadzia to recall who Data was, but eventually remembered he was Worf’s friend from Picard’s Restaurant, before he had come to work at DD9; not that it explained the situation.

“And what is Spot doing here?” – She asked, very slowly.

“Earlier today, Mr. Data asked me to take care of his cat. I told him that I could not, but he can be very persuasive sometimes.” – Worf said, with his voice still full of annoyance.

“And you thought that it would be a good idea to bring the cat for the Defiant? Benjamin is not going to be happy about it, you know.”

“I start my shift at 8:00 p.m. today; Data told me that he could pick her up at 7:30 p.m., so I will be able to return Spot to him before I return to work.”

After some moments of silence Jadzia tried to suggest an idea:

“Do you want me to call Ezri? When we were kids, she was always good with cats.” – Indeed, she was; Jadzia remember that Ezri had dozens of cats, when they were younger, and they all seemed to love her.

Worf shook his head, dismissing the idea:

“I doubt that anyone besides Data would manage to get along with… with this monster.”

Worf hadn’t taken his eyes off Spot for even a second while they were talking. Jadzia gave him an exasperated look:

“Can’t you take your eyes of her while you talk to me?”

“I cannot.”

Jadzia frowned again; when Worf didn’t say anything else, she asked:

“Why not?”

“I do not trust this cat. When she was at my home, she made a mess of my entire house, climbed all my shelves, and nearly destroyed my new opera CD. I don’t trust her and I am not going to take my eyes of her until Data arrives.”

Jadzia raised her eyebrows:

“She is quite something, isn’t she?”

Worf didn’t answer her. Rolling her eyes, Jadzia reached for the door.

“Where are you going?”

“You’re no fun at all. If you’re going to glare at the poor cat for another – she looked at her watch – twenty minutes without bothering to talk with me, I’m going to spend my time with Nerys. Good luck explaining the yellow fur all over the seats to Benjamin — see you later!”

Jadzia thought that she heard Worf complaining before she closed the door. Chuckling to herself, she imagined all the damage that the little cat had caused.

She always sympathized with cats, but she thought that, if she were Worf, she would never agree to take care of Spot again.

***

“I can’t understand how you do that.”

Geordi looked, astonished, at the scene before him; Spot, Data’s cat that had traumatized everyone at Picard’s and some of the staff at Deep Dish Nine, was resting peacefully in Reginald Barclay’s lap; she was even purring.

Reg smiled nervously, burying his hands into Spot’s soft hair and then saying:

“I d-don’t do anything, I just… take care of her. I guess she likes me.”

He looked down, clearly uncomfortable. Reg had anxiety and, even among friends, it always seemed hard for him to talk to anyone. It was why he spent more the time in the kitchen than in the restaurant.

He was originally hired to work as a waiter, but after Jean-Luc had seen his difficulty working in public and learned of his talent in cuisine, he shifted Barclay’s functions in the restaurant.

Most people ridiculed him for his constant nervousness and treated him as if he was something less and not worthy of attention. Regardless, Geordie had to say that he liked Reg, as a professional and as a friend; he was an amazing person, but no one bothered to stay with him long enough to figure it out. Only a few people knew how brilliant Reg could be.

Trying to make him feel better, Geordi said:

“Well, she only likes you. And Data, of course. But I swear, she’s a little devil with everyone else.”

“But she is such a nice sweet lady” – Spot purred happily, looking at Barclay with a calm expression as he ran his fingers through her fur. “- aren’t you?”

Spot purred louder, and Geordi was once again amazed at the scene in front of him; it was weird.

But thinking about it… there was a kind of beauty to it.

Spot, for some reason, hated humans (with the exception of Data), and Reg always had a hard time dealing with people. Seeing the two of them together, so peacefully, made Geordie feel better somehow; it was good to see Reg not looking uncomfortable for a change. It was also nice to be in the same room with Spot, without her looking as if she wanted to kill Geordi.

Geordi shook his head, hiding a smile: it looked like Data had finally found someone to look after Spot.


End file.
